fêting the forgotten; curating the uncultivated

Tag Archives: Billy Gibbons

We were delighted to receive an incoming message from Spain where ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons was spending a few weeks on break from touring, recording and being ultra-famous. Well, he’s still ultra-famous but he did get some time off from the other stuff. A dyed-in-the wool fan of FeralCars.com — he hosted our “DRIVEN” art ‘n’ cars event in Palm Springs last year — BFG sent us a snap shot of a SIMCA Aronde found parked at a curb in mid-Madrid. We’ve determined it’s a ’61 or ’62. The marque’s emblem is a swallow as can be seen in the steering wheel center. “Aronde” is a corruption of hirondelle which means swallow — the bird, not the gulping kind.

Swallow. Hard.

Billy’s field notes:

“On any usual day while cruising the streets in Madrid, the sidewalk spotting may be a bit on the skimpy side when anticipating an encounter with anything classic or custom. However, sometimes luck may be on one’s side when an unexpected runner of the road is seen sitting quietly curbside awaiting an admiring glance from any pedestrian or passerby. He continued, “In this case, this tantalizing visual treat tiptoed around a bustling and busy avenue to seek solace from an unusually oppressive Spanish summer heatwave to sit out the sangria-like sanguine sizzle with a sigh of relief. And so it sat, awaiting a smile as we strolled by. See ya’ again soon, SIMCA…! Now back to Cali to call out for a custom…!”

Back on the streets again

SIMCA was, for a time, marketed in the United States as the firm had been acquired by Chrysler which paired its “captive import” with select Chrysler,Plymouth, Dodge and DeSoto (!) dealers. While some have suggested that the brand derived its name from a relatively obscure Jewish holiday, we’re here to tell you that SIMCA is actually an acronym for Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile. So that’s your French lesson for the day.

Horsing around España

Well, not really as Billy also sent a shot of a Citroën 2CV (deux chevaux = two horses) careening down a Spanish street. Our best guess is that this is a mid-1980s Dolly model, meaning it had special paint and a cushier interior than the base car. ¡Ay, caramba! meets Ooh La La!

The Pope’s is white, of course.

While we’re on the subject of French cars in Spain we thought we’d share this shot of a Renault 4L, called quatrelle in the land of its manufacturer, that we found in a picturesque alley in the Catalan town of Girona. It’s the same type of low-end Renault that Pope Francis was given a few years back as, one supposes, a commentary on meek inheritance. We think it’s pretty cool that the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion people drives a 30 year old car with almost 190,000 miles on the odometer. How’s that for humble?

Goddess-like

We close with two more Citroëns found on this continent. That otherworldly DS 21 wasn’t photographed in East L.A., it rides low thanks to its self-levelling hydropneumatic suspension. DS is, of course, a play on words, it’s pronounced déesse which is French for goddess. Please don’t tell the Pope.

The other is a 2CV we came upon in real world service, picking up a traveler at Sacramento International Airport. Apparently Its equine propulsion rating has been augmented with canine enthusiasm.

Not one, but deux cheveux

Here’s our intrepid Madrid correspondent with his very own California Custom, a ’58 Thunderbird he calls Mexican Blackbird. Feral it ain’t but funky it is!

If you’ve stalked a feral car and would like to submit a photo of it for posting consideration please send it to us: info (at) feralcars (dot)com OR through our Facebook page.

Note: While we strive for factual accuracy in our posts, we readily acknowledge that we we sometimes make inadvertent mistakes. If you happen to catch one please don’t sit there and fume; let us know where we went wrong and we’ll do our best to correct things.

FeralCars is delighted to have played a role in last week’s DRIVEN installation at Palm Springs’ Stephen Archdeacon Gallery, attended by scores of cognoscenti in town to celebrate Modernism Week.

Art parked

“Bob,” a swanky orange Mercury Bobcat begged the question, “Would a Pinto, by any other name, would still explode on impact?” Bob, along with an anonymous though glamorous, in a 1984 K-car kind of way, Chrysler LeBaron convertible greeted guests at the event celebrating the ‘car noir’ art of Eric Nash, hosted by ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons.

Matthew Reader, a/k/a “Mr. Palm Springs Modern,” curated the collection of cars deployed in the area that included a “Smokey and The Bandit” style Pontiac Trans Am, complete with “screaming chicken” hood treatment, an Oldsmobile 98 the length of three Smart cars, a Lincoln Continental Mark IV plus a “plain Jane” Ford station wagon that is the subject of one of Eric’s pieces. His set design sense was spot on with matches strewn around the Bobcat along with a gasoline can, a vintage lunchbox exhibition in the “wayback” of the Ford wagon and a literal “trunk show” of women’s shoes in very large sizes next to the Olds.

“Atlanta to Texarkana and back in twenty eight hours? That ain’t never been done before.” “That’s cause we ain’t never done it.

Kickin’ it Oldschool, curbside

After sundown, Feralcars presented a breathtaking slideshow in which 190 images were projected on an outside wall of the gallery. We’re told that some of these could be seen from the International Space Station but this has not been confirmed.

We’re excited to be involved with DRIVEN, an event that features the drawings of Eric Nash and some of his automotive subject matter in the flesh. If you find yourself anywhere near Palm Springs on February 19th please come on by. Eric’s art is nothing short of brilliant and we intend to populate the curb with some freaky feral finds.

Host for the event is ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons who knows a thing or two about cool cars. Here he is with a fine ’66 Mercury.

Clearly, Billy is crazy ’bout a Mercury

Click herefor an interview with Eric Nash by Angela Romeo. The guy is a talent!

Billy Gibbons spoke to Autoline about some the cars in his collection. Good stuff.

And here’s “that Gibbons boy” enlisting the help of Manny, Moe & Jack to help with an “out of round” tire.

Jeepers! ZZ Topper seems to have a case of the Willys

If you’ve stalked a feral car and would like to submit a photo of it for posting consideration please send it to us: info (at) feralcars (dot)com OR through our Facebook page.